Can You See My Cheeks?

In the words of Paul Harvey, “Now for the rest of the story.”

A few months before my trip, while still in the planning stages, I asked my brothers and sisters to prepare for a fun filled day at Lagoon. Lagoon is an amusement park in Utah. If you go to Utah in the summertime, you have to stop at Lagoon. It is a lot of fun. I should get a large kickback now for advertising for them. Ha! The idea was we would go there with all the kiddies, grandparents, and a partridge in a pear tree. I knew somehow it wouldn’t go as I had pictured in my head, and it is sad that the majority of my family continues to NOT surprise me.

We (by we I mean my fabulous sister and I) decided that we would go to Lagoon on Tuesday. She was able to acquire some discount tickets so that helped a lot! Tuesday morning came sister, 4 nieces, 1 nephew (brother’s kid), an extra friend, and I all set off to Lagoon!!!!

We had a fabulous day. It was hot, but so much fun. The kids had a blast riding all the rides. I was surprised that Olson niece #3, and #4 (ages 7 and 5) were the most brave to ride on all the rides that they were allowed on (height wise). We rode on what is called the White Roller Coaster. It is still wooden and rickety from 100 years ago, but mostly safe I would assume. I rode next to niece #3—after the first hill on the roller coaster, I looked over at her to make sure she was ok, asked her if she was having fun, she replied, “can you see my cheeks?” Her little 7 year old cheeks were bouncing so badly. Poor thing couldn’t hold up her head because of the gravity pull. So, I reach over and tried to hold up her head so she could see! That helped a little. I ended up holding her head on almost every ride like that. I remember going when I was younger and I couldn’t hold up my head, hopefully I have saved her some neck pain.

It was such a fun day and I’m very glad we got to enjoy it as a group. All the kids really enjoyed themselves and desperately want to go back. We laughed, and played the entire day away. Despite the fact that the rest of the family is party poopers, we had a fabulous time without them!!! Ha!!!

By the end of the week (Thursday evening) I was really hot and dry (from being in the high desert). I was ready to come home to Los Angeles. This doesn’t go without saying to my family that I had a great time and I love that the visits are that enjoyable. I got to have dinner and catch up with some friends, get a pedicure and lunch with mom, and enjoy another meal with both mom and dad . Even though I never get to do all that I hope or plan to, I try hard at spending time with everyone. Los Angeles was nice and humid and cool when I landed! HOME SWEET HOME!

Th-th-th-th-that’s all folks!